East Fourth Street, Red Scarf Alley, Blood Ape Gang Headquarters.
"Jade-Faced Tiger! Some Jade-Faced Tiger you are!
I, Wang Han, will tear you limb from limb!"
His furious roar was like the howl of a wounded beast.
The Blood Ape Gang's leader, Wang Han, paced back and forth through the center of the hall like a volcano ready to erupt.
He was even more burly and powerfully built than his son, Wang Teng. Standing there, he looked like a moving mountain of flesh.
As his emotions surged, his qi and blood roiled.
The wisps of qi, blood, and force leaking uncontrollably from his body had grown as heavy as lead. The men kneeling in the hall could barely breathe, their hearts pounding wildly beneath the pressure.
Hidden Force at the peak; qi and blood as heavy as lead.
He was a Bone Forging expert, a realm beyond Body Tempering and Tendon Changing. Rumor even had it that he was not far from Organ Refining.
"Useless! Every last one of you is useless!"
Wang Han stopped abruptly. His bloodshot eyes swept over the gang's underlings below, who cowered in silence, their bodies trembling like sieves.
He grabbed at the air, and one of the underlings kneeling closest to him cried out as an invisible force lifted him and pulled him into Wang Han's grasp.
"Teng went to Chunhua Restaurant on business. Why didn't you lot of wine-swilling good-for-nothings send more men with him?"
Wang Han's voice was hoarse, laced with murderous intent.
"G-Gang Leader, spare me!
The Young Master... the Young Master wouldn't let us send more men. He said too many people would draw attention, and he was afraid... afraid of alarming the Qin Family.
He was also afraid the people 'over there' wouldn't be pleased..."
The underling pleaded, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"Afraid? And now? My son is dead!"
Wang Han let out a furious roar and clenched his five fingers.
"Crack!"
The grating sound of breaking bones rang out clearly.
The underling's pleas stopped dead. His eyes bulged as Wang Han flung him aside like garbage. He crashed against a stone pillar in the distance and died on the spot.
A deathly silence fell over the hall.
The rage of losing his son burned through Wang Han's insides.
But he had built the gang into what it was today with more than brute ferocity alone.
He took several deep breaths, forcing the fury that threatened to overwhelm his reason back down into his heart.
His gloomy gaze, cold as a snake's, slowly shifted to his trusted aide kneeling on the other side:
The deputy gang leader, Ghost Abacus, Chen Qi.
"Chen Qi,"
Wang Han's voice had settled, but that only made it more unnerving.
"Have you found out yet?
What's the story behind this 'Yang Ning,' the man in the White Jade Mask who killed my Teng?"
Chen Qi was a lean, middle-aged man. At Wang Han's question, he hurried a step forward and replied in a low voice:
"Reporting to the Gang Leader, I've used every contact at my disposal to investigate him thoroughly.
His background... is surprisingly unremarkable."
He paused, then continued his report in an even tone:
"Yang Ning was indeed born and raised on East Third Street, to a poor family.
His father was once a Porter Guild foreman, but both his parents died young.
His older brother, Yang An, raised him. Yang An is an ordinary herb gatherer for Hundred Herb Hall's outer branch, earning barely enough to get by.
Before this incident, Yang Ning himself made a living hauling carts for the Porter Guild on East Third Street. He was a laborer at the very bottom of the ladder."
"Oh?"
A murderous glint flashed in Wang Han's eyes.
"A lowly peasant like that had the skill to beat my son, who was in the late stage of Body Tempering, to death?
Or did he have some kind of lucky break recently?
Did he pledge himself to someone?"
Chen Qi hesitated, then lowered his voice further.
"We haven't yet determined why his strength improved so suddenly.
But... I did uncover something that might be connected.
The Yang brothers seem to have some old history with Fei Yan, the steward of Hundred Herb Hall's East Third Street branch."
"Fei Yan?"
Wang Han's brow furrowed sharply, and a hint of wariness flashed in his eyes.
"Is he one of Fei Yan's men?"
"No, it doesn't seem so."
Chen Qi shook his head, his tone certain.
"I spent a great deal of money to bribe a trusted servant close to Fei Yan.
According to him, Fei Yan and the Yang brothers aren't old acquaintances at all. On the contrary, they've had quite a falling-out.
Fei Yan dislikes the two of them and has even... made a point of holding them back.
Some time ago, Yang An tried to trade an old ginseng root for his younger brother Yang Ning's entry into Hundred Herb Hall's inner branch as a disciple. Fei Yan publicly humiliated and rejected him."
"That really happened?"
The murderous glint in Wang Han's eyes softened slightly, replaced by a thoughtful look.
"That Fei Yan is a shameless toady. His ties to the people beyond the city are murky, and he even has a connection with a direct-line young master of the Shen Family in the Inner City.
If Yang Ning really were one of his men, I'd have to think twice before making a move."
"But..."
He rubbed his chin, his face once again wreathed in sinister malice.
"But if he's not one of Fei Yan's men, and he's never had dealings with the Qin Family...
Then this will be much easier.
Some ignorant peasant thinks that clinging to the Qin Family's high branch means he can soar to the heavens and ignore my Blood Ape Gang?"
He sneered again and again, his voice like a cold wind blowing through the depths of hell.
"The Qin Family? They're just one branch of the family!
They've barely put down roots in the Outer City. Do they really think they can rule everything? They might protect him for a time, but let's see if they can protect him for the rest of his life!"
Just then, Chen Qi cautiously spoke up again.
"Leader, there's something else... The people 'over there' sent word today, more or less. They sounded displeased.
They think our actions this time were far too reckless. Not only did we fail, we alerted our enemy.
They say it's left them... in a difficult position.
Should we take the initiative and explain things, perhaps smooth it over?"
"Explain? Smooth it over?"
Wang Han spun around and glared at Chen Qi, murderous intent plain in his eyes.
"My son is dead! And you want me to explain myself to those skulking rats?
The operation failed?
If their intel hadn't been wrong—if they hadn't claimed she had only one old, frail Body Tempering guard—my son, with his late-stage Body Tempering strength, would have had a sure thing!"
His chest heaved, but in the end he lowered his voice, speaking with bitter hatred.
"Tell them the Blood Ape Gang will handle this ourselves. It has nothing to do with the 'Qin Family matter' and won't affect our future cooperation.
But they'd better figure out whose faulty intelligence got my son killed!
Cooperation goes both ways!"
After venting his anger, Wang Han fixed Chen Qi with a ravenous stare once more. Each word dripped with tangible killing intent.
"Chen Qi, there are a few things I need you to handle personally!"
He stepped forward, and his dreadful aura bore down like a mountain.
"We can't touch the Qin Family estate for now, but what about East Third Street? He was born and raised there, after all. You can use your own judgment.
I want that little bastard Yang to learn what it costs to kill my son!
I want him to watch helplessly as everything he has is crushed and destroyed because of his laughable act of 'righteousness'!
When he's left with nothing and all hope is gone, I'll tear him apart with my own hands and offer him up to my son's spirit!"
Meanwhile, in the rear residence of Hundred Herb Hall on East Third Street.
Fei Yan suddenly slammed the copy of the Kuishan Top Hundred Ranking, compiled by the Yuan Family's All-Hearing, down onto his desk.
His face had gone deathly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.
His chest heaved violently. Fear and anger mingled in his eyes.
He knew, of course, about the upheaval at Chunhua Restaurant some time ago, the one that had shaken East Street.
He did business with several Blood Ape Gang leaders, and there were even murky ties between the forces behind the gang and his own rise to prominence. Naturally, he had kept a close eye on what had happened that night.
He had been using every channel available to gather information.
When he heard that Wang Teng had been killed in public by an obscure Qin Family Guest, his first reaction was shock that anyone would dare treat Wang Han's only son so brutally.
But as more details emerged, and the real name of the masked man—Yang Ning—began to spread, Fei Yan started to feel that something was off.
Yang Ning?
Why did that name sound familiar?
At first, he thought it was a coincidence. There were plenty of people in the world with the same name.
How could a young expert capable of killing someone in the late stage of Body Tempering be the cart-hauling peasant he had insulted so wantonly some time ago, someone he could have crushed as casually as an ant?
Impossible!
That was what Fei Yan told himself.
He had even secretly mocked himself for being so paranoid as to connect a lowly laborer with a powerful expert like this.
Then the Blood Ape Gang passed along more information through its channels, confirming Yang Ning's family background and relatives.
A chill shot straight from the soles of Fei Yan's feet to the crown of his head, and all four of his limbs went ice-cold!
The evidence was irrefutable!
It really was him! That Yang Ning!
How long had it been?
How could a lowborn commoner who'd needed his brother to risk his life gathering ginseng just to secure a faint chance at martial training transform into a Body Tempering martial artist capable of killing Wang Teng?
Fei Yan refused to believe it. He frantically searched his mind for another possibility.
Then, today, the newly printed Kuishan Top Hundred Ranking—an influential publication in the Outer City and even the entire county—came down like a hammer and shattered his illusions.
The page he opened to bore a striking headline:
"The Chunhua Restaurant Incident: Nameless Tiger Soul Shakes East Street, Masked Young Hero Rescues Qin Maiden."
Beside it was a sketch, simple in style but remarkably lifelike: a young man wearing a half-mask, standing tall with a fierce fist stance.
The small print beside the image read:
"Yang Ning, age twenty, from East Third Street.
Formerly a laborer for the Porter Guild; skilled in Tiger Soul Fist; upright and forthright in character.
Suspected martial arts prodigy; cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds, and he has reached the Body Tempering realm.
At Chunhua Restaurant, he acted bravely to help others, killed Blood Ape Gang heir Wang Teng with a single punch, and rescued a Qin maiden from danger. He is now a Qin Family Guest.
Ranked ninety-seventh on the Top Hundred Ranking (new entry)."
Ninety-seventh!
Though he was only near the bottom of the Top Hundred Ranking, it meant that the Outer City's martial arts circles had recognized and taken notice of Yang Ning's strength and deeds!
It meant that he was no longer a lowborn nobody, but a "genius" with untapped potential!
More importantly, the words "Qin Family Guest" stabbed at Fei Yan's eyes like needles.
The Qin Family!
They were a family on equal footing with the Shen Family of the Inner City!
"This is over..."
Fei Yan collapsed into his grand chair, dazed and hollow-eyed. His whole body was cold, and sweat had soaked through his underclothes.
He remembered every humiliating thing he'd said to the Yang brothers.
He remembered the Tiger Soul Fist Manual he had deliberately passed on to them, knowing how difficult it was to master.
He remembered the contempt and abuse he'd made no effort to hide...
The more satisfying it had felt back then, the more terrified he was now!
A twenty-year-old Body Tempering expert on the Top Hundred Ranking, valued by a powerful family and brimming with potential—and most crucial of all, he harbored a deep hatred for Fei Yan!
Fei Yan had no doubt that once Yang Ning established himself in the Qin Family, he would come back to settle old scores!
"No! I can't just sit here and wait for death!"
Driven to the brink by fear, Fei Yan's natural ruthlessness flared to life.
"I have to kill him before he takes root in the Qin Family, while his wings are still unformed!"
A murderous glint flashed in his eyes.
"Wang Han lost his son to Yang Ning. He must hate him to the bone and will certainly seek revenge. Maybe I won't even need to get involved."
He thought quickly, one poisonous scheme after another churning through his mind.
"Perhaps...
Could they secretly provide the Blood Ape Gang with some convenience?
If nothing else... could they arrange a few accidents?"
But he immediately dismissed the idea.
The Qin Family weren't fools. Yang Ning had just saved their young lady, and if something happened to him right after, the Qin Family would suspect the Blood Ape Gang first—and anyone with possible ties to them.
His relationship with the Blood Ape Gang wasn't a complete secret. It wouldn't withstand close scrutiny.
He thought it over and over, his heart gnawed at by poisonous ants. In the end, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind.
"Whatever happens... I have to get out of this place of trouble first and lie low for a while.
His expression shifted uncertainly in the room. At last, he changed into an inconspicuous outfit and opened the back door of the study.
Night had fallen deep. An ordinary Green-Canopied Carriage from Hundred Herb Hall slipped silently out through the side gate of the rear courtyard.
It soon merged into the dim streets and sped toward the Inner City, leaving behind only two faint wheel tracks.
Before you continue